A timepiece answering to the generic definition hereinabove has already been described in several documents published in the name of the same applicant. The general arrangement of the antenna confined within the watch case forms the subject of patent document EP-B-0 339 482 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,252). The assembly of the movement, the caseband and the back cover of such a timepiece is described in patent document EP-A-0 460 526. Finally, the arrangement of the power cell energizing the radio frequency portion of the watch is set forth in patent document EP-A-0 460 525.
As appears from what has just been said hereinabove, the timepiece in question is doubled by an apparatus for seeking persons which will be hereinafter designated by the appellation "pager". As will be seen further on, the pager portion is made up of an antenna, a receiver circuit, a decoder, a microprocessor and a memory capable of recording several messages, each of such messages being adapted to appear upon request on an LCD display cell. The pager is completed by an acoustic diffuser signalling for instance the arrival of a message. Here the pager appears essentially as a micro-receptor signalling the user that he is sought after by a third person.
There exist pagers which transmit only one or several acoustic signals. When the signal sounds, the user must then compose an agreed-upon number on a telephone apparatus. The pager in question in the present description enables the user to know, at the same time as an acoustic signal may sound, which third person is seeking him and this through the appearance of a message on a display cell, such message consisting in most cases of a telephone number to call back. In order to send his message, the third person commences by composing on his telephone apparatus the number of the pager to be attained, after which a special acoustic signal sounds in the receiver. He next composes his message by means of a digital keyboard available to him on his own apparatus and waits for the telephone exchange to advise him that his call has been recorded. As soon as this confirmation has been received, the receiver can be hung up again. A short period later, the message sent will appear on the pager which has been called, accompanied by a warning signal should the user so desire.
To combine a pager with a wristwatch is advantageous because the apparatus is permanently worn by the user who, because of this, will not forget to take it with him and also because it is of a dimension greatly reduced from that exhibited by independent pagers already known in the state of the art. Such combination, however, poses technical problems which are difficult to resolve. Certain of such problems have already formed the object of descriptions in the documents cited hereinabove. The present invention aims to resolve a problem which has not been dealt with until now and which is that posed by the control arrangement of an apparatus combining at the same time a wristwatch and a pager, in which it concerns, on the one hand, the ability to correct the time displayed by the watch and on the other hand the ability if necessary to cause the message to shift and the ability to protect or erase messages received by the pager. Such functions are assured, according to the present invention, by a single stem-crown.